POUGHKEEPSIE, NY (June 4, 2024) – On the heels of a strong but ultimately disappointing 2nd-place finish at Lime Rock Park on Memorial Day, Chris Dyson is looking for a win at this weekend’s Trans Am by Pirelli at Pitt Race International to add energy to his quest for a fourth consecutive series championship. Dyson currently trails Lime Rock winner Paul Menard by 19 points as the 2024 Trans Am season approaches its halfway mark.
“We raced at Pitt in 2018 and finished on the podium,” Dyson said, “so we have a basic book on the track. It’s very technical and narrow and there aren’t a lot of good overtaking opportunities, so qualifying will be important.”
Dyson noted that the CD Racing team had recently tested at Pitt and gathered good data. “I expect we will be ready to go when we unload the car for Friday’s test session,” he said. “Last year we struggled a bit with our new car, but it’s well sorted now and reliably fast. We will be looking to fine-tune the set-up for qualifying and the race. We are arriving everywhere this year and have been in ‘the window’ for setup, so we can now just keep pushing on optimizing performance.”
Were it not for an unfortunate incident at the start of the Lime Rock race Dyson would most likely be enjoying a slim lead in the championship. Dyson’s #16 GYM WEED Ford Mustang dominated practice at Lime Rock and despite the vagaries of a rainy qualifying session started on the front row. But a hard bump from behind going into the first turn of the race sent Dyson spinning off the track. Dyson, a three-time Trans Am winner at Lime Rock spent the remainder of the 100-mile sprint climbing through the field, consistently the fastest down the stretch, and was closing on Menard when the first full-course caution of the race froze the running order through the checkered flag.
“Given how strong our GYM WEED Mustang was, it was a frustrating result, a tough one to process,” Dyson admitted. “Instead of defending a slim point lead, we are now facing a mild headwind in our championship defense. That said, while we didn’t get the final result we were looking for and frankly expecting at Lime Rock, as a pure driving exercise the race turned out to be extremely satisfying. It was one of the best drives of my career. But as we head to Pittsburgh we will be taking the positives from the first half of the season and pushing to get back on the top step of the podium.”
Matos Goes For Two Straight In TA2
At Pitt TA2-class point leader Rafa Matos will be looking to put his Concord American Flagpole Ford Mustang into the winners circle for the third time in four races. Matos, a two-time TA2 season champion, currently enjoys a 28-point lead over Thomas Merrill.
Pitt Race International Schedule
Qualifying takes place Saturday, June 8, 3:40 PM – 3:55 PM (ET)
The 100-mile race takes the green flag Sunday, June 9, at 1:10 PM, (ET)
Broadcast Schedule
The race will be live-streamed on both the Trans Am andSpeedTour’s YouTube channels.
Additional Broadcast Coverage On MAVTV
In addition to the livestream, highlights of the race will be broadcast the following Thursday at 9:00 p.m. ET to MAVTV’s 22 million North American linear households and 175 million connected devices.
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